Don’t blog at 4am! Apologies for moving Pluna and its bankruptcy to the wrong country! And with friends from both countries, I should know better. PLUNA Líneas Aéreas Uruguayas S.A., headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay (not Paraguay) was the country’s 75 year old flag carrier. The company was liquidated by its owner the Government of Uruguay on 5th July 2012, two days after employees went on strike. The airline had a mixed history of ownership and a series of financial losses.
Thats the 17th airline to vanish in 2012 and the third flag carrier to go this year (Malev and Air Zimbabwe) being the others. I had flown those other two flag carriers but never got to try PLUNA. Skytrax rated them a 3 star airline and Skytrax passengers rated them 6.8 out of ten.
The Uruguayan government announced that PLUNA’s fleet and their routes will be auctioned within two months. Further, the government passed a law on July 17, preventing it from owning a stake in any new airline.
At its collapse, the airline had 13 Bombardier CRJ900s flying to 16 destinations. Their Montevideo, Uruguay to Buenos Aires, Argentina was their busiest and most profitable route, apparently responsible for generating over half of all company revenue.
TAM Airlines, Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur S.A., the flag carrier and the national airline of Paraguay is still flying!
It was Uruguay’s flagship carrier, not Paraguay’s. I flew it several times and much preferred it over Aerolineas Argentinas to get to Punta del Este from Buenos Aires…sad to see it go.
PLUNA is from URUGUAY, not Paraguay.
FYI: Pluna is headquartered in Uruguay not Paraquay.
Hi, PLUNA was the flag carrier of Uruguay, not Paraguay.BTW the arline was decent when compared to Austral and Aerolineas Argentinas.
Ha ha ha
“PLUNA Líneas Aéreas Uruguayas S.A., the 75 year old flag carrier of Paraguay”
I don’t know if the Uruguayas didn’t give you a clue…
yeah big oops! Thanks for noticing and correcting. I blame a late night shattering of my credibility. I might just move Air NZ into Australia and KLM into France – oh wait a minute that did happen!
Darn, I just flew them in May, a great option for Southern South America, one of the few that had reasonable access to Paraguay, too, with regular flight from Uruguay.
From what I hear, it would not be hard to be better than Aerolineas! Thanks for noting my mistake. That was a big oops!
That it was a good carrier seems to be the general theme. (that I got the country wrong was the other theme today!). Fixed!
Fixed!